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Do you remember when and how did you start to listen to extreme music and heavy metal?

I am very thankful for having parents who exposed me to heavier music from the day I was born! My father raised me with bands like Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Poison etc. My mother was more alternative. She enjoyed more emotional music more than my father's glam/hair attitude.

Sheshowed me bands like Silverchair and The Cure. The first album I ever bought was Silverchair's «Neon Ballroom» when I was two years old.

As I was exposed to more music in school with my friends, I discovered bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine and Lamb of God...

It all goes crazy and complicated from there! I'm sure most metal fans understand, we all go through a unique growth process. My parents grew their music taste with me and their support has been cherished.

What was your first experience with bands and playing music in general?

What was your way until you decide to form Illyria?

Oh God... It started at my school. It was a prestigious boys school. I learnt classical guitar when I was ten years old but later transitioned to electric. I used to play the drums – unfortunately – and also percussion like timpani. I played in the school's jazz and concert bands, I only did that all because there was very little opportunities to achieve music honors without following with the classical/jazz system. Over time I had an opportunity to play guitar the way I wanted. My electric guitar teacher offered me to join a rock music academy and start playing the heavier music I loved. From that moment on I learnt a lot and moved on from the academy. Independently I played in numerous bands during my teenage years ranging from 70s style rock to death metal. I have no regrets - it all counts to this very moment.

What was the motivation and the concept – if there was one – behind the beginning of this project?

I was the rhythm guitarist of a technical death metal band at the time called Ascension, we had just released our debut album «Shaping Structures». It was the most intricate and technical music I have ever composed with a band, it was quite exhausting.

I needed something to contrast that but still provide me the heavy edge I love. I fell in love with post-black metal at the start of my final year of high school.

Bands like Alcest, Lantlôs and Deafheaven... I always loved the beautiful side of black metal - I want to show people that side. The other band members influence different emotions conveyed and I can't speak on behalf of them but for me, most of the time I want to show beauty and grace. I want to try something different and refreshing for my Australian brothers and sisters ears.

You started Illyria alone. Did you have, back then, the idea of having this as a one-man-band or were you already trying to find the right persons to have a full line-up?

As a teenager, I always said to myself “I would love to be in a band like Gojira and be a guitar/vocalist”.

In Perth, my city, it is very isolated... The nearest city with one million plus people is thousands of kilometers away. The opportunity to start a band is hard enough, it was not until I graduated high school and travelled to Europe was the idea of Illyria established. I was in Serbia at the time and through online Facebook music conversations I encountered George [Blacklock] through mutual friends. We found a common interest listening to Alcest but he is more into traditional black metal bands rather than me. It was a perfect union from the start and I couldn’t wait to go back to Perth and meet him. I met George for the first time at a tavern in the city and we discussed about starting a project for the first time. He lives on the opposite side of the city from me; it takes us over an hour to travel – our motivation is what keeps us strong. Eventually I had written «Sarim», George had ideas too and soon enough together we released [the single] «Cold Summer» to the world. Every Illyria fan can acknowledge George as much as me

ILLYRIA is one of those bands, which convey such a wide variety of emotions, different atmospheres and layers that is hard to describe in just a few words.

Their homonymous debut album picks up atmospheric black metal, shoegaze, post and progressive rock in a beautiful, dynamic and often original way.

Ilija Stajić, founder and leader of this highly underrated Australian collective, put us in touch with the band’s motifs and creative roots.

for creating Illyria because without him none of the music would exist. Due to the local success of that song, we managed to establish a full band in a year with some line-up transitions. George used to be the drummer but we moved him onto the 6-string. Now as a five-piece we are ready to show the world what has been three years delicately in the making.

How do you work through the distance?

It was very tough at the beginning and it slowed our progress a lot when it came to practicing our music together. Thanks to the internet however we could always write music together through Guitar Pro 5 and 6, we always compose all of our music on there before we start recording.

After forging a complete band line-up a year later, we now rehearse and write at our drummer’s residence which is a perfect middle-distance for all of us in the band – it worked out really well.

What are the main musical influences behind Illyria and in what way do they influence your composition?

My main musical influence and favorite band will always be Gojira - they changed my style and approach of composition.

At the time as a young teenage guitarist, I always wanted to be the fastest shredder and approach hyperspeed. Gojira helped me understand the effectiveness of a vast range of tempos and emotion, their album «From Mars To Sirius» is a catalyst of my life. From the beginning when it was just myself to now - an underlying factor to Illyria's songwriting structure and philosophy is a Gojira-inspired approach. Everyone has an opportunity to showcase their ability in this band.

When it comes to the overall sound of Illyria however, the sound is mainly post rock, black metal and an open mind. You

can point to the elephant in the room and say “Alcest, Deafheaven, Les Discrets, etc”.

Absolutely we love those bands - we are post-black metal fans playing post-black metal. To make sure we provide our own unique sound to the genre, we are also inspired by bands like Ne Obliviscaris, Between the Buried and Me, Fallujah and every single band I have mentioned already. Prog-rock/metal is a genre that everyone in the band loves together and we aren't afraid to mix that with our music.

Is originality a real concern to you?

Do you consciously care in bringing something truly unique and new to the table or, as long as the music works for you, you’re happy with working with the exact same elements as every other band out there?

We definitely consciously care in bringing something new to the table, when it comes to writing new music the band makes sure that we love it first of all.

The music we make is what we love and if fans love it too - well then come along and join us with the journey. When it comes to originality, I don’t think we are ‘reinventing the wheel’ or ‘making a hovercraft’ at all. We play the music we write because we are inspired by a plethora of musicians; we bring them all together to establish unique soundwaves.

I think what sets us apart is that we have decided to be risky and try a different production method than most bands in the genre take. The production style of our music was very ‘modern’ compared to other independent bands. I wanted my close friend Jeremy [Pickett] to produce our album because I want his product to grow and because I believe he does an amazing job – I strongly recommend anyone to work with him, he brought the music to life. It was a very pristine and

precise record, we wanted the album to sound epic and glorious – I think the modern production sound is also a form of originality in this genre; I hope it brings in more fans for other bands and our album is seen as a gateway to create more black metal listeners around the world.

What about the lyrics – what’s the inspiration for the words you write and what kind of approach do you have to the songs?

I wrote all the lyrics from the album, all of it was from personal experience. I’m not going to lie about this one despite the backfire we may get – the main lyrical inspiration from this album is from an MMORPG game the whole band still plays today called Runescape – yes, I know...

I have played the game for about ten years now so it’s definitely something very cherishing for me to write about. It takes me back to a time of my innocent childhood, oblivious to the problems of the world - I don’t want our listeners to worry about global issues that we face in the world right now – I want them to be happy on this record. On another album - We’ll see what happens but this album lyrically is mainly a positive, enlightening record with a generous swig of melancholy and doom. There is no concept on this album because this debut effort is an amalgamation of the compositions we have written over three years. Other themes include falling in

love, a mass murder, the bands I used to play in and internal battles within the mind. I like to try different personas so the lyrics don’t feel so ‘first-person’ orientated with second-person point-ofview as a secondary option. I think the next goal we have for the next record is to implement third-person point-of-view to provide more lyrical diversity.

Do you feel there’s a Perth element, or atmosphere, in your music or lyrics?

Do you think Illyria’s music would sound the way it sounds if you had the exact same musical influences and lived somewhere else?

I have been a very fortunate child to see a lot of Europe and Asia growing up, it’s cool travelling the world and absorbing different cultures to mine but there is no place like home. I am from a half-Serbian, half-Greek household – we are very culturally intact and musically, the influence from Europe is going to be present. As a band we all definitely appreciate the European sound more as we are all from European descent with three of the members being mixed AngloSaxon/Celtic and two of us - including me - being Slavic; Matt is also half-South-East Asian. We are all proud to fly the ‘Eurosound’ flag here in Australia because first of all we love it and secondly most of the bands here are influenced by North American bands more. I believe the main factor for Illyria’s developed sound

“Everyone has an opportunity to showcase their ability in this band. When it comes to the overall sound of Illyria however, the sound is mainly post rock, black metal and an open mind”

comes to a more personal level than our musical influences because I believe that we are all fortunate to have a great upbringing here with supportive families letting us be ‘post-black metal musicians’.

Our parents come to our shows and are always proud of us. We are thankful to be able to do what we love with acceptance. We all have been through our rebellious ‘I can do what I want mum & dad!’ angst-phase with our music in previous bands; we are now experiencing adulthood together and writing with a more cohesive and mature approach. This is why our music and lyrics are planned the way they are, every life experience we have encountered is recorded because well… We are experiencing life and its ups and downs. It may not be as drastic or extreme as other bands but that’s our unique portrayal and I hope others can appreciate it. A post-black metal band guaranteed is going to reflect its emotions and musical philosophy through the experiences they live in – being in Australia is something we are proud to showcase through our music and when people listen to us; I hope they feel like they are in our home having a barbecue dinner with us.

the album’s compositions - the majestic nature of the lion, the capriciousness of the goat and the deceitfulness of the serpent. It is a very intriguing piece by a local art student called Jade Hewton.

I found her work through my cousin, he went to school with her – this band significantly thrives on networking. I fell in-love with the chimera piece straight away and bought it in a matter of days.

I still can’t believe it is all hand-drawn.

She has amazing potential and is still so young. I hope she gains a boost of confidence and clients from the exposure of her art on our album. The hand written ‘Illyria’ was made by a close friend of mine named Lachlunn Valente. That logo will be exclusively for this album due to its artistic nature – we want the album artwork to feel like an artpiece.

“The main lyrical inspiration from this album is from an MMORPG game the whole band still plays today called Runescape – yes, I know...”

Tell us a bit about the album cover.

Who’s responsible for it and what kind of concept lies beneath?

It’s an ancient mythological creature from the Hellenistic world called a ‘chimera’. It is a fusion of a lion, a serpent and a goat. We believe it showcases the three different personalities observed in

Your life must certainly affect your music, but does your music affect your lives? I mean, do you think you’re a mental healthier person, for instance, because of the feelings you put out through your music?

Surprisingly I don’t think music affects my life as much as other members in the band, it definitely is something that I don’t let control my life and ‘put all my eggs in one basket’ – I like to keep my options open in life. You need to always have a plan B. I am studying to become a primary school teacher at university and I have a lovely supportive girlfriend who I would love to experience life with – these are just as important if not more important than my music to

be honest because these life-paths help fuel my music. So of course these factors influence my music but does music affect my life? Not really, I treat it with humility and I am grateful to just be able to play music with my friends and I will let the music do the talking on an ambitious level. My life funds my music.

What are your plans, goals and wildest dreams for the band? How far do you think a project like this can get in the scene, in times like these?

Elaborating on what I was saying before, I don’t like to give myself too high of expectations or if it fails - you will just be crushed and disappointed. We have done so much already for a new band; we have supported local Australian powerhouses like Ne Obliviscaris and Plini for our debut show! We also have supported an amazing band called Caligula’s Horse who has claimed the crown of Australia’s prog-rock maestros in my eyes. I am ultimately looking forward to what happens in the future because I will always make music until I physically cannot anymore. When it comes to an artistic, entertaining level – I would love to tour the world through music but bands and fans have to understand

that the music industry is very cutthroat financially and personally. Gratefully I have toured before filling in for another band on a national scale, indeed it does take a toll on every aspect but it is also rewarding. I am craving to tour again but I am realistic of what needs to be done.

My personal goal is to play with Illyria in my hometown of Zrenjanin, Serbia. I have never forgotten where I have come from and I think my distant family back there deserves to see me perform for them. They always support me through the internet; I want to give something back to them. When it comes to the ‘alltime epic’ goal for Illyria – we always day-dream and say “Imagine playing Wakken, Download, SxSW etc.” – I think to summarize we would love to play a festival on every habitable continent.

We always keep a level head and know we have so much more work to do so we stick to making little goals at a time. This album is just the beginning and it’s taken us three years to establish a foundation.

Who knows what will happen in the future but we are thankful enough for what has happened already. We will just keep pushing our goals slowly together and do as much as we can for our fans over the world.

NÉVOA is a rather new Portuguese Portuguese project which, since its inception in 2014, have released one single and two full-length albums.

The latest one, “Re Un”, is available through highly praised Avantgarde Music and takes the duo’s cold darkness to a new level of cohesion and experimentation. Nuno Craveiro allowed us to shed some light into this misty entity.

Do you remember when did you actively started listening to music and what was your way until you get to extreme metal?

I started actively listening to music when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. I never really stuck with just one genre and basically know a lot of names in each one. However, the ones who meant the most to me growing up were basically any form of atmospheric music and folk/traditional music. Bands like Hedningarna, Katatonia or 16 Horsepower (and Wovenhand) made me really appreciate music and shape my view of the world through them. On the more technical side – but not only, of course – Tool, Mastodon, Meshuggah, Decapitated and Behemoth are some good references.

What kind of reactions do you normally get – from your family and non-metal colleagues and friends – for the kind of music you play? Do you spot any kind of different mentality from what we all heard that used to be the reactions to metalheads in the 80’s for instance?

Well, speaking from my experience, I never really had any real problems because of it. My parents didn’t really understand it at first but they were always very supportive. Also, today, the

majority of my friends are all musicians or artists, which makes it pretty hard for that type of reactions to exist, thankfully.

Other than that, something which usually happens is people thinking of feelings like anger or depression when being confronted with Névoa’s music, which is understandable and probably common to anyone who has a metal band or project. Nevertheless, I always focus on introspection when composing and depression will never be a goal for our music.

How was the project Névoa born?

What kind of musical background did you and João had before the beginning the band?

I started my musical learning with cello and I still play it, I then started learning guitar and also taught myself to play the bass. João started playing drums at an early age and always had an interest in different types of percussion. Like everyone we both were part of some small bands and João was also part of percussion ensemble, where he could try other instruments too. We met in the beginning of our bachelor (we both study music production and we’re finishing this year) and while we were both listening to some Agalloch at the time, he already knew all the black metal scene since his early years, which definitely made me

get more involved in the genre. From there on, atmospheric black metal really grew on us and along with our other influences, Névoa was born out of a need to make a statement on the national and international music scene.

Do you consider your music to have a distinct element of Portugal in it? If so, in what way can it be recognized?

Well, speaking about the first record, the environment around us was definitely an influence at the time. Negatively regarding the social aspect but positively in the way that, for their nature, some places are really special for us and contributed to the atmosphere of the album. Overall and for “Re Un”, we had a different vision altogether, so I don’t think there’s any element from Portugal in it, we really wanted to create a unique identity for Névoa and in my opinion, very few bands here have that ambition.

How do you handle your lyrical approach? What inspires that part

of your creation, do you try to get a message across or to have a more poetic approach?

João wrote the entire lyrics on “Re Un” so he’ll answer this one: We started thinking of a concept, something that we wanted to explore with our music. I was very inspired by both Steppenwolf, by Herman Hesse and The Death of Ivan Ilitch, by Leo Tolstoi. The theme of the lyrics is related to Man’s bond and connection with Nature. A reflection is made concerning the loss of one’s identity, a spirit that leaves its physical form to contemplate the Earth. The album ends with the realization that there is nothing to be done to make amends with the natural world.

What do you consider to be the main differences between the previous record “The Absence of Void” and the new one, “Re Un”?

I think what sets them apart in the first place is the concept behind each one. For “The Absence of Void” we had a journey

in a mind, with different chapters and in which atmospheric black metal blended perfectly with the doom parts and the acoustic passages. For “Re Un”, João came up with the concept of a cycle, which begins with a spirit leaving its physical form and in the end, returning to it. This is the reason why the album begins and ends with the same chords.

Also, in that experience, a reflection is made on the broken link between Nature and Man. That being said, we basically wanted to portray that through a ritualistic setting with all the different states of mind related to it: the heavy and slow passages, the hypnotic riffs and psychedelic leads, the groovier parts and the end of Contemplation, featuring that really low drone, chanting and traditional instruments. Because of all this, with “Re Un” we wanted to experiment a lot more and not be bound to specific genres, which production-wise led us to record the album in a live take format for it to sound more organic and differed heavily from the approach taken on the first record. Also, unlike the few bands we know which try to achieve this, the idea was to be able to mix ritual music and black/doom metal effectively, without the heavier parts feel like regular riffing just shoveled in there and keeping the same feeling throughout the whole album and its songs.

What were your main influences – musical and non-musical – when composing the music and lyrics for “Re Un”?

Musically, our influences are bands like Wardruna, Oranssi Pazuzu, Swans, Amenra, Mammút, Arktau Eos, Wovenhand, among others. Nonmusically, to get in the mood I was aiming for to compose the riffs, I looked at most of the pictures taken by the

Helixes artistic collective – Aeoga, Arktau Eos, Aural Holograms, Halo Manash, I.corax, JKV – for example. To write the lyrics, João was influenced by books such as “Steppenwolf”, by Hermann Hesse or “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, by Leo Tolstoy.

You certainly got a good press reaction to your debut album. How does that kind of praise affect you? Does it put any kind of pressure on your shoulders?

It only affected us in a good way of course, seeing that people really valued our work and understood it was definitely a motivation. I don’t think it put any pressure on our shoulders though. First of all, we make music to express our thoughts and views and so our most important goal is to achieve that.

How did you get to sign to Avantgarde Music? What was the emotional weight of that move and what differences do you spot, until now, to the work with a smaller label like Altare and from self-releasing a single?

Avantgarde showed some interest in us due to the first record. When we started to have some ideas and demos of what would become “Re Un”, we reached out to them and got signed to their rooster.

Emotionally it made us feel that we had already achieved something meaningful, being that not many bands in Portugal make it this far. Comparing Avantgarde with Altare, there are not that many differences. Avantgarde really means something internationally of course, but for example, with Altare we had the advantage of being able to meet and decide everything personally. Of course, none of this relates with the single we self-released, we were just starting at the time and that was only just a demo.

What are your plans, aspirations, goals and wildest dreams for this project? Do you intend to go as far, in terms of popularity, as you can or do you somehow consider your music strict and intend to move it apart from the masses?

I cannot say we don’t care for popularity being that music is our living, but as I said before, we make music to express ourselves and if that reaches the masses or not, that depends if what we do is understood and cared for. We certainly won’t try to keep it from anyone. In terms of genre, I think we have already found what we were looking for, so the next record will probably sound around the same direction as “Re Un”. However, we’ll always try to push our music further, I think that is always a really strong motivation to make a new record.

How do you look at the Portuguese black metal scene? What bands do you find really interesting and, as a whole scene, how do you compare it with other European scenes?

Apart from Örök, which are really close to us, we don’t really agree with the majority of ideas and mentalities of other bands. We basically just try to not be involved in the scene too much.

Comparative to other European scenes, I guess there’s a lot more variety and experimentation with black metal in other countries.

Do you have any kind of religious beliefs or a specific life philosophy?

Does that vision influence your creation in Névoa?

I don’t know if you can call it that, but yes, me and João both have some values which are always present in our music and way of thinking. We don’t believe in any specific religion and as we have

always said, Nature plays a really big role on what we do and why we do it. Besides that, we believe in achieving a certain state of mind only though music, like a type of meditation and introspection.

That being said, we also don’t do drugs, we value a clear mind and focused thinking above all else.

“I always focus on introspection when composing and depression will never be a goal for our music”

COLDWORLD is the work of mastermind Georg Börner, which have been fascinating fans of ambient and depressive black metal since 2005, when the EP “TheStarsAreDeadNow”. Now, the German multiinstrumentist is back with “Autumn”, his second full-length and an even more unique mix of melancholy, sadness and melodic black metal. Being signed to a “big” label such as Cold Dimensions, Georg didn’t have time for a big, detailed interview as other projects here presented, but still he agreed to touch some topics.

Do you remember when did you start listening to music and what was the “way” that led you to extreme music?

I started listening to music when I was born. I grew up surrounded by music.

Everyone in my family is playing an instrument or is involved in music projects. So, there was no chance to escape. Later I discovered the ‘extreme music’ because of some shady friends. I started right away with Black Metal and I skipped all the classics, like Iron Maiden or Metallica. So, nowadays metal discos are not my cup of tea.

What do you listen to nowadays, then?

What kind of music, bands, projects, formats and environments do you choose when you listen to music?

I usually listen to many styles of music, such as Black Metal, Ambient, IDM, Jazz and more. If the music transports emotions and has a melancholic touch I give it a try. I’m very openminded so

to say. It also depends on my mood, of course. Just to name some artist which are really inspiring to me from different genres: HECQ, Johann Johannsson, Katatonia, Sigur Rós, The Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Arve Hendriksen and many more.

Did the fact that you now play music and are active in the scene made you change, anyhow, the way you listen to music and relate to other’s music?

I think, I’ve been always listening to music in a special way. Since I’ve been seven years old I play instruments. Of course, with the years the taste changed, I’m also way more picky about music in general. If you make music you listen in a different way to other artists and bands and so on.

What approach did you have to the album “Autumn”? Did you have any specific goal for it? How did the composition worked?

After a very long time of silence, “Autumn” just happened. I made the plan to record it and it just worked. After I tried every now and then to write new material and I did not like it or I was not in the mood “Autumn” felt like a catharsis. My specific goal was to make a good album again, music I like, music I want to listen to. So “Autumn” is a very personal goal i reached!

Do you have to make a conscious and deliberate work to have this kind of balance between melancholic melodies and harsh parts or is it something so natural in you that it comes out naturally every time you write music?

I like to combine those different ways of expression. Some calm and mellow parts, some harsh outbursts and so on. I also use it as a way to make my music more special and to keep it diversified. Sometimes it’s hard to find the right balance.

Does the fact that you work alone in this project make you, somehow, sometimes lose the confidence in your own music or are you always confident and satisfied with the music you write and record and that’s enough?

Sometimes I have periods without inspiration or I’m just not in the mood for making music. That’s normal I think. But in general I love to work alone. I just do what I want and what I feel like. The release of “Autumn” gives me strength and self confidence again and I’m really confident that you don’t have to wait very long for the next album. I’m back on track again!

Are you the kind of person that needs inspiration to write music or lyrics or do you have a work ethic and discipline and rely more on hard work?

I get much inspiration from nature and art for example. That’s very important to me. But for making an album I also have to settle down, to ‘empty my head’,

to have some peace and quiet. And then I force myself to start and to work hard.

For recording “Autumn” I’ve rented a cabin in the woods. It worked.

Tell us a bit more about that period in the woods. How was your normal day and what kind of mental process did it triggered in you that you just wouldn’t have had elsewhere?

When I’ve been in the woods I enjoyed the quiet and loneliness. I was able to focus much better on the things I had to do. It’s also a matter of the lack of distraction. I just got up in the morning, prepared a strong coffee and started to work till I was exhausted. Sometimes about 14 hours per day. I put a bit pressure to myself and was like in a flow.

This is your second full-length album and, now, people are aware of your project, you have fans and some expectations to fulfill. How do you deal with that kind of situations?

I know people have expectations. And still I just do what I want and what I feel like. Still in the first place I want to make music I (!) like. I will not change my style because of trends or because of the “business”. So far I had no problems.

What is your background in music?

How – and when – did you started listening to heavy metal and more extreme metal? What was the “way” that got you there?

Mike L.: I started playing guitar when I was eleven or so, and I’m 28 now, so it’s been a while I guess. I was into Metallica and all the usual suspects growing up, as well as really loving a lot of 80’s music. I remember quite clearly the first time I heard more extreme metal and the impact it had on me. I came across Agalloch’s “Pale Folklore” in the early 2000’s, and it just floored me… I had never heard anything even remotely like it. There was something so evocative about it, something that was just so unlike anything else I’d ever heard. My aunty then let me use her credit card to buy a few albums online, so I spent a while searching through the fairly primitive early-2000’s internet and eventually settled on ordering Tristania’s “Widow’s Weeds” and “Beyond the Veil”, Theatre of Tragedy’s self-titled album, and Novembre’s “Novembrine Waltz”. From there my obsession with metal spread to all sorts of sub-genres and bands. Agalloch was definitely my first real love though, along with those albums I mentioned above, particularly ‘Pale Folklore’ and “Novembrine Waltz”, which remain two of my all-time favorites to this day. Going back earlier than that though I definitely have my brother, Steve, to thank for getting me into Metallica and a bunch of those bands so early.

Chloe: I got into writing and playing music when I was really young. I inherited a piano from a family friend and I taught myself to play by making things up or working out songs I liked.

I ended up playing a bunch of classical instruments all through school. I got

into the heavier genres of metal when I moved to New Zealand at thirteen. I was already into generally alternative music, but there was a surprisingly big metal scene in Dunedin and when a friend took me along to some shows I was completely hooked.

Emilio: Well for me it was the early 00’s.

This will not be popular but I couldn’t care less haha! I’m the case of the “numetal” scene serving as the gateway to more extreme music. After a couple years it was all about more and more extreme music. Haven’t looked back since. Sure I can still hear some of that stuff and think fondly on it and say “That was a long time ago”.

Do you also remember what was the “click”, the band that made you decide you wanted to play music and start and band? And the bands that played a heavy influence on you since then?

Chloe: I don’t think there was one particular band for me. I’ve wanted to write music and play in bands the whole time I’ve liked music. Whenever I’ve liked any music I’ve always immediately wanted to play it myself, and I’ve formed bands whenever I could since I first learned to play guitar. It was probably melodic death that influenced my early metal bands though; things like Dark Tranquility, Insomnium, and old In Flames. More recently I’ve been most heavily influenced by Moonsorrow, Borknagar, Dissection, Nechochwen, and Winterfylleth.

Mike L.: Yeah, it’s hard to pin down one particular band. Agalloch is still my main answer, but I’ve always really loved doom, melodic death, and power metal so those played a pretty big influence on the bands I formed as a teenager.

Later on when I started Lysithea in 2008, which is still going today – with

our Sojourner bassist Mike Wilson as my co-songwriter and vocalist – I was really influenced by bands like Mourning Beloveth, My Dying Bride, The Fall of Every Season, Swallow the Sun, The Foreshadowing, Draconian, Novembers Doom, Mar de Grises, Saturnus etc. But even then there’s stuff that influences me massively that isn’t metal at all. I absolutely love 80’s synth-based stuff, and while it may not be super obvious in my writing it’s definitely there in the forefront of my mind a lot of the time. I also really enjoy a lot of stuff that isn’t metal, so I think it all just ends up in a weird melting pot of influence even if it’s not something you’d pick out when listening to the end result.

Emilio: One band that really ignited that flame for me is Draconian. Upon hearing them, my tastes developed into loving atmospheric stuff: doom, black, even some death metal if it have atmospherics going on. It was then that I knew what I wanted to do. Here we are now. Other bands that have inspired me along the way are Summoning, Caladan Brood, Saor, Elderwind, Doom:VS, Funeral, Funeral Tears, Ea, Helevorn, Falkenbach, Gallowbraid etc.

When you pick up music to listen to nowadays, what kind of music, bands, formats and environments do you normally choose?

Mike L.: I try to always stick to physical formats where I can, CDs or vinyl.

Unfortunately, with Chloe and I living in Scotland for a few years, I don’t have my good stereo or vinyl setup with me. So a lot of it involves buying the CDs or special editions to rip and then store away for safe keeping until I get reunited with my real collection. In terms of the bands and music I go for these days, it’s mostly metal but also some non-metal stuff in

By now, you’re probably scratching your head thinking that if you’re never heard about SOJOURNER, they’re probably not very relevant, right? Wrong! You never heard of them because they’re a recent project, comprised of New Zealand, England and Spain natives, but you should because their debut album, “Empires Of Ash”, is a fantastic mix of epic proportions of black metal, cinematic atmospheres and medieval melodies. The band founder and multi-instrumentalist Mike L., vocalist Emilio Crespo and guitarist Chloe Bray spoke to us about this fantastic debut.

there too. I’m a big synthwave/80’s fan, and after writing and recording an album it’s always nice to have a bit of a – very short! – metal detox so that you can come back with fresh ears. The albums I’ve been listening to most lately, apart from the old favorites, are Moonsorrow’s “Jumalten Aika”, Novembre’s “Ursa”, Borknagar’s “Winter Thrice”, Enslaved’s “In Times”, Unleash the Archers’ “Time Stands Still”, Be’lakor’s “Vessels”, Nylithia’s “Hyperthrash”, Ihsahn’s “Arktis”, Gunship’s self-titled album, A Wilhelm Scream’s “Partycrasher” and a fair bit of Galneryus... But there are way too many to pin down, I spend all day at work and at home listening to music, so there are literally hundreds of albums I could list. Those ones I listed contain a fair few of my favorite bands, so it’s been a very good year for metal.

Emilio: It’s almost always metal for me.

I enjoy other kinds of genres too but it’s metal 90% of the time. I only own CDs and a few cassettes. I would like to start on vinyl but that is not something I can afford since I already spend quite a bit on CDs. The music I listen to the most is either doom or black metal.

There is one band I spin almost daily, and that is Draconian. When it comes to environments, nature is an amazing place to listen to music but if I’m having negative feelings or don’t feel well in general, it matters little where I am as long as I have music to listen to.

How did you gather this group of people? Did you have the concept for the project prior to start looking for musicians or did things just happen naturally?

Mike L.: It all just kind of came together naturally. Emilio contacted me saying he really liked Lysithea, and he was very supportive actually, he made a video

review of one of our albums and spread the word quite a bit, so we formed a pretty good relationship from there. He showed me his band Nangilima, who are excellent, and suggested we try something with an atmospheric black metal vibe since we both really enjoy the genre. I chucked together “Heritage of the Natural Realm” pretty quickly over a couple of days, then took it to my long-time bandmate Chloe because I thought my tin whistle parts weren’t quite as interesting as they could be…

And we ended up with what you hear on the album. My writing style and Chloe’s are so complimentary that we ended up just writing the rest of the album 50/50 together, both doing all the guitars, while she did the whistles and I did the drum stuff and the pianos/synths. I asked Mike Wilson, one of my oldest friends and a bandmate throughout the years since my very first band, to be the bassist and it just came together from there.

Mike, you’re married with Chloe, right? How does your personal relation affect the way you write music together and vice-verse?

Mike L.: Yeah, Chloe and I have been married for three and a half years and we’ve been together for a lot longer than that. It makes a huge difference to how we write music in a really good way, but we’ve also been in bands together for almost ten years now so we have a really good writing dynamic anyway. The relationship only improves the whole thing. When you’re with someone all the time there are no barriers to when you can write or share ideas, so progress happens a lot faster. There’s also the aspect of disagreements being a much simpler and less awkward process, it’s much easier in a relationship to just say that something doesn’t work or isn’t

right. We switch from married mode to bandmate mode fairly easily, so the benefits are nothing but positive. The band also reflects on the relationship too, because the bandmate comradery reflects back on our personal interactions outside of the band. It’s the perfect setup really.

Prior to this release, you only had one single out. Did you felt you were completely free to do whatever you wanted, music wise, with this album, not having to fulfill any expectations created by previous releases and fans? Or were you imposing yourself some genre frontiers in order to keep focused?

Mike L.: Not at all, we just kept writing what we wanted to write and had a clear vision of the album as a whole. We knew what dynamics we wanted, the peaks and valleys that would contribute to the landscape of the album’s atmosphere, and we just wrote. The same goes for next album; rather than churn out “Empires of Ash” Part II, we’re going to expand and explore. It’ll still be us, but I don’t want to feel like Chloe and I are tethered to the established musical elements on “Empires…” and can’t cast out in new directions. I’d much rather try and fail than repeat and stagnate, but at the same time what we write is going always to fall into the general sound we’ve got going because that’s our default writing mode, and elements like the piano, folk influence, and tin whistle are always going to be a Sojourner mainstay.

Your full-length album is often compared with big names such as Summoning, Emperor or Agalloch.

How do those kinds of comparisons make you feel, on a personal level?

““Pale Folklore” in the early 2000’s just floored me… I had never heard anything even remotely like it.

There was something so evocative about it, something that was just so unlike anything else I’d ever heard”

“I wrote my Master’s thesis on Greek, Egyptian, and Near Eastern lunar deities, so there was a lot of reading on underworld journeys, divination, and eclipse monsters there. Maybe I’m just over-enthusiastically into my research”

Chloe: It’s completely surreal to be compared to bands we love. Of course it’s very flattering too. It’s been interesting seeing the comparisons people have made, as often they aren’t things that we were actively going for while writing.

Mike L.: It’s ridiculously surreal to hear people make any of those comparisons, and we couldn’t be more thankful for the level of support we’ve received.

Of course, there’s no way we’re even in the same universe as those bands – not that anybody is pretending we are haha – but the comparisons are truly flattering. It’s really touching when you receive these insanely positive messages from people expressing feelings about something you’ve created that you can relate to feeling about bands that you love yourself, it’s really nice to hear but incredibly hard to reconcile the fact that they’re talking about something we’ve created.

Emilio: As my bandmates have said, it’s an amazing experience. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that we are mentioned in the same breath as many of those bands.

We just started this all to make music we love and it’s become quite a bit more than that. We are immensely grateful that we have this level of support.

Is there a link – inspiration, motivation, some kind of different social status – between your “music life” and your professional life? Or are they two completely heterogeneous parts of your life?

Chloe: Everything feels closely connected to me. I’m doing a PhD on ancient Greek literature, so for the last year I’ve been reading epics and tragedies all day.

Before that, I wrote my Master’s thesis on Greek, Egyptian, and Near Eastern lunar deities, so there was a lot of reading on

underworld journeys, divination, and eclipse monsters there. Maybe I’m just over-enthusiastically into my research, but to me it all seems very appropriate to the fantasy themes which influence Sojourner.

Mike L.: I work at a games company as a QA Engineer, and before that I finished my Masters in Science Communication looking at the future of humanity in Space and plans to colonize Mars. So my professional life and the band don’t necessarily have any correlation to each other, apart from the fact that I love both aspects of my life and the people in them. I’m lucky that I have a job that I love so much, and the people I work with are all very cool, so that does spur me on to some degree. Also, while it’s not necessarily part of my ‘professional’ life yet, I’ve been working on synth-based soundtracks for a couple of friends and acquaintances’ projects. That’s probably the closest crossover I’ve got between my music and professional sides of my life, and it’s something I’d like to do more in the future if these projects go well.

Emilio: No, not at all. I’m glad for that lack of link as well, personally. Music is my escape, my sanctuary. I fear that if my professional life seeped into my music that that flame might burn out. So with me being able to revisit music every so often, I retain that love and passion for it.

Other than music, what normally inspires you and makes you want to create music? Do you have an “urge” to write music or is it more like a very localized thing, something you only do when it’s “time” to do it?

Mike L.: I find books, films, and games are all things that inspire me hugely when it comes to creating music. More than anything else though I think the

travelling that Chloe and I have done, mostly around Asia and New Zealand, in the last few years has been the real inspiration for Sojourner. Obviously life gets in the way of writing all day, every day... But I find that whenever I try to take a break from writing I get the urge to jump back into it pretty quickly.

I think it’s healthy to take enforced breaks and refresh yourself so that you don’t stagnate when it comes to writing new stuff, but it’s also really hard to be away from it when you’re used to being immersed in it non-stop for years on end.

Emilio: Nature, feelings, inner struggles, experiences, etc. It normally does present itself as an urge. Whenever something is going on, be it negative or positive, I immediately know what I have to do. At that point I may have no music to write but the lyrics can stay put somewhere until I need to use them.

This band works in two different environments: at home and international. How does that work for you? Do you have to make a conscious effort for this not to be just “Mike/ Chloe’s” band?

Mike L.: I guess the thing is that it actually works in that order as well, at home and then internationally.

We discuss the album and where we generally want to take it thematically, maybe decide where the various atmospheres would sit best in terms of album flow – faster songs here, more epic songs there, maybe these songs are a loose ‘trilogy’ of sorts etc. – and then Chloe and I write the songs. It works well this way. We know what we want and it’s nice to be able to be industrious and fulfil the vision we have for the song before it goes anywhere, we’re both quite detail-oriented and don’t like

songs going out before they’re done.

Then once we finish a song it goes to Mike W. who puts his bass lines on, then it goes on to Emilio to put the finishing lyrical and vocal touches on. Sometimes Emilio will have a set of lyrics done before the song is finished but I try not to focus on making the song ‘fit’ them too much, because I feel like some of the best vocal stuff comes when a vocalist has to fit things in a space they hadn’t anticipated, though if Emilio needs a bit to be extended by another rotation or whatever we can easily accommodate that in the structure. We leave both Emilio and Mike W. completely in charge of their own parts though, so everyone has complete freedom to do what they like in their area, so it all works really well. It’s definitely not a ‘Mike/Chloe’s’ band situation, but when it comes to songwriting we’re quite insular in terms of us writing the songs, but that’s no bad thing at all in my opinion. I’ve never found myself to be anywhere near as creative when writing in an open-band jamming type scenario or when too many people have input into a song. It definitely can work, and some bands thrive on that songwriting style, but I personally prefer to work with one other musician at most when it comes to songwriting, at least in term of the main structure and core elements.

Do you have plans and goals for the future of this project whatsoever?

Something that you can say “we’ve achieved this” when you get there or something you really look forward to?

Emilio: It has already been such a ride. An amazing one at that! There will always be new goals to accomplish but we did accomplish a couple already; getting signed to the exact label we had in mind and most importantly of all, make an

album that we are proud of and have it reach as many people as possible. Now the next goal would be vinyl – which soon there will be news on! – and to play live.

Mike L.: Yeah definitely, Chloe and I have started work on the next album. In saying that, ‘started work’ doesn’t mean much when it’s such an incredibly long road to finishing an album. I wouldn’t expect the next album anytime soon, we want to take our time and make sure that the next one really is significantly bigger and better. We’re a studio band first and foremost, the focus will always be mostly on producing albums we can be proud of, but performing live would be amazing... Although it’s something that I either want to do really well, or not at all. The right musicians would have to be involved, I wouldn’t want to do it just for the sake of it. If we get the right line-up though, then playing live would be amazing. Also, like Emilio said, vinyl is something that we’ve all always wanted to have our releases on... So keep an eye out for some potential news there.

This is an exciting and, at the same time, challenging time for a young band of a peripheral music genre. How do you look at the current music scene and what do you think are the biggest problems and advantages a band like yours can face?

Emilio: Well I believe the “scene” is thriving with plenty of talented bands and there is a lot to choose from to fancy your palate. But make no mistake, there is a lot of crap out there as well, even more so in a genre such as black metal.

I find myself sifting through seas of bad bands until I finally find that gem. When it comes to us, we have a great advantage that we have a label like Avantgarde

Music behind us to promote us very well and get our album out to many people everywhere. A big problem for a band like us is since we don’t play live – yet – it can be very hard to stick in everyone’s minds. The normal thing to do is go out and tour to promote your album but when you are a studio project it can be hard. As I said before though, we plan to do gigs so hopefully it won’t be much of an issue for us. Even if we couldn’t gig, the people that really love our music will stick with us and keep themselves updated anyway. It really comes down to the fan how relevant we remain. We are just honoured to have the attention we’ve gained.

Mike L.: Metal is, for the most part, a really great scene filled with incredibly passionate fans, and we’re lucky to be a part of it. You’ll always have the racists, the misogynists, the homophobes, and the general scum that linger around in both metal fanbases and sometimes the bands themselves, which is unfortunately, but mostly it’s just a really supportive genre consisting of genuinely awesome people. Bandwise, the internet is an amazing tool but it also provides an insane amount of saturation to listeners, so it’s easy to get lost in a deluge of music of wildly varying quality. Luckily, we were lucky enough to have a legendary underground label like Avantgarde back us and we couldn’t be more thankful to Roberto for believing in us. Sure, it’d be really nice to play live, but it’s so hard to be an internationally touring band these days that you’d only ever reach a tiny portion of your audience anyway. So in light of how hard it is to tour, and as much as I want us to be able to, I’m just grateful to everyone for all the support they’ve shown since the start of our, so far, very short time as a band.

“The “scene” is thriving with plenty of talented bands and there is a lot to choose from to fancy your palate. But make no mistake, there is a lot of crap out there as well, even more so in a genre such as black metal”

WOMAN IS THE EARTH is not your average black metal band. Strongly influenced by their Black Hills, South Dakota surroundings and with an undisputed punk/grindcore background, there’s plenty of distortion and chaos in their sound. And yet, there’s a melancholic and evocative atmosphere in their musical approach, making their fourth effort in merely seven years, “Torch Of Our Final Night”, a rich and truly complete experience. Guitarrist/vocalist Jarrod Hattervig opened his soul to us.

What was your first contact with extreme music and what impact did it get in you?

I suppose it was initially through punk rock and hardcore music. As a young teenager I got really into punk rock; started going to shows, playing in a few bands and discovering a whole world of underground music that I really didn’t know existed. I started out listening to your pretty typical punk rock stuff, but definitely had a desire to find music that was heavier, faster, louder… I think my first exposure to real “extreme” music was probably when I heard crust punk and some grindcore/ powerviolence stuff… I really liked the intensity and energy of the music. It was just so visceral and pissed off and like nothing I had heard before. It was exciting to find out that this kind of music existed, and that I had just barely started to dive into the extreme metal genres of music.

What was your “musical taste evolution” from then until what you normally hear today?

In regard to extreme music, I think I could probably credit two distinct albums that I heard that really shifted my music tastes. The first was “Ad Majored Sathanas Gloriam” by Gorgoroth. From the very first time I heard that record, I was totally blown away. I bought it the day it came out at a music store that I was working at at the time. I was familiar with some black metal, but for some reason that album really spoke to me when it came out. It was so intense and so emotional, and I remember never hearing vocals or drumming or guitar melodies like that before and was just floored. I think that was when I realized what a powerful vehicle black metal was for conveying emotion and power. The second album that was hugely influential in my taste evolution was “Two Hunters”

by Wolves in the Throne Room. I think that album is held in very high regard by a lot of people, and for good reason.

For that particular place and time in my life, it was an extremely powerful

record. It was so beautiful, and really captured something unique… The entire atmosphere and ‘feel’ of that album was great - I feel they really did capture an essence of their surroundings and their spirits. Essentially, I think that is how my taste in music has defined itself a little more. I love music that has true emotion and a certain spirit to it, music that has heart and artists that seem genuine and passionate about their art. And that doesn’t just include black metal - lots of black metal is really boring to me…

But those examples in particular opened a gateway into music that I think really expresses emotion and power and a certain individual, spiritual intensity that most music could never really invoke in me. I have also become much more interested in good songwriting than ever before. Although I have certain tastes in specific genres of music, I can appreciate a well-crafted song. Good songwriting spans musical genres or instruments and speaks more to me than any kind of technical skill or specific sound or any gimmick.

something inspiring that I want to try to emulate or expand on, and I typically need to sit down right away and figure it out and record it, otherwise I tend to forget. Other times, yeah, I will sit down and start with an idea or even just a certain sound and I will force myself to build it into something… That doesn’t always mean it’s good, or that we will use it for anything, but I try to at least complete the idea so I can give it some more thought later on.

What are your actual musical influences and tastes, and how do they differ from Jon and Andy?

Jon and Andy definitely don’t have the same taste or background in punk rock and hardcore music as I do. We all believe in our own version of a DIY/punk rock kind of ethic, but musically speaking, that was my background more than theirs. I don’t listen to many punk rock bands anymore, but there are still a handful of punk and hardcore bands that I really love. When I met Jon and Andy they were more into metal, industrial, and electronic music than I was. They introduced me to bands that have influenced us like Opeth, Skinny Puppy and Boards of Canada. I introduced them to some hardcore and grind bands like Nasum, Discharge and Dropdead. These days we all listen to quite a bit of black metal, we all share an interest in a lot of ‘classic rock’ bands, electronic and ambient music, grindcore/

“There is a very unique feeling and spirit to the Black Hills as well as the rest of South Dakota that is difficult to describe”

Having said that, are you the kind of composer that really needs to be inspired to write music or you’re more of a hard worker, specifically sitting down to write and “force” yourself to come up with something?

A little bit of both, really. There are times when I will think of something or hear

powerviolence, some doom metal, psychedelic and prog rock. I personally like a bit of pop music, soul and R&B kind of stuff, some old folk music…

Which are styles that Jon and Andy don’t really listen to. There are a handful of bands that we always seem to listen to when we are on the road together, like Nightbringer, Helms Alee, Yob, Gorgoroth, Saor, Boards of Canada, Fall of the Bastards, The Black Angels, The Sword, Electric Wizard, Magrudergrind and others.

What was your musical course from the day you first picked an instrument until you formed Woman Is The Earth?

Well, I started playing guitar when I was 15 or 16 I think. I got an acoustic guitar and just learned to play a finger style. Shortly afterward I got an electric guitar and had to learn to play with a pick. I never took lessons, and still don’t know how to read music or anything.

I just taught myself some chords and just started finding notes that sounded okay together. I think what really helped my playing was performing with other people and just learning the basics of keeping time and understanding rhythms and some different techniques. I was never a very good guitar player, and I’m still not very gifted on the guitar. Over the years I’ve learned a lot more, but still mostly go by feel I guess. I feel lucky to have played with Jon and Andy in Woman is the Earth for the past eight or so years.

Writing and playing music with them makes me a better guitarist. I played in a couple punk bands when I was younger, then started a project with Jon and Andy in 2007 which became Woman Is The Earth. We started out playing super fast one-two minute long kind of thrashy grindcore songs. But our tastes and wishes as a band evolved and we wanted

to focus more on melody, layering, song structuring, etc, and it became what it is currently.

For all of the years of this project, it’s been just you guys and you never had a line-up change. Does this fact reflect a true friendship between you guys that goes beyond the musical relation?

Absolutely, our relationship with each other is probably the most solid foundation of our band. Jon and Andy are twin brothers, so they have a very close relationship, and I have become very close with them over the years. I would consider them to be two of my best friends, almost like family really. I think it is key for our creativity because we are comfortable being very honest with each other and even though there is a business aspect to how we operate, it always comes secondary to our relationship with each other and our families and our lives outside of music. We all respect that and respect those boundaries. We also all have a very similar sense of humor, and similar way of communicating and working together. It all comes very naturally, which keeps the project extremely enjoyable and fulfilling. If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t be doing it anymore. Woman Is The Earth wouldn’t exist with a different line up.

If one of us chose to part ways, I don’t think the band would continue, at least not under the same name. We also would probably never take on another member.

It has come up before, and we have been approached by some really amazing musicians who were interested in joining the line up, but the dynamic of the band would change, and the way we operate would inevitably change, and would no longer be Woman Is The Earth. We have a pretty unique situation and unique way of operating.

Also, how does the composition process normally work in the band?

Do you have a steady working method or you just go with the flow and have more of an organic way of doing it?

That is something that has kind of grown and changed over the years, but we do have a pretty standard method for how we compose and build songs. Typically one of us will have an idea that we will bring to the table during practice and the three of us will actively work on it together. Sometimes it may be a single riff or could be a nearly complete song. We will work together to find what sounds best rhythmically, what parts transition the best, and what has the best kind of organic feel to it. Then we will work on layering parts, adding lead lines, adding rhythmic complexity, and really focus on the song as a whole. We decide if parts need to be shorter, longer, more or less dynamics, etc. And hopefully have a final product that flows well and feels right.

Then we will typically practice the new song for weeks or months, play it live and determine if it deserves its place on an album. We have thrown out a lot of parts, and several songs that we didn’t feel had the same power or level of songwriting as the rest of our songs. There is always a chance that those thrown away parts can be resurrected though, and find a better place in a different song or on a different

album. Sometimes they are great songs, but just don’t have the right ‘vibe’ to fit the rest of the album. These songs often find a home in the future.

Who’s responsible for the lyrics?

What’s the band approach to them?

Do you tend to be more honest and consequently expose yourselves to the listener or are you more a cryptic and poetic kind of writers?

I write all of the lyrics. Up to this point each album typically has a ‘theme’ that I start with, then each song develops along with that theme. They aren’t necessarily concept albums, but it helps me to keep things flowing well when thinking of lyric ideas. It helps me keep the ideas and the music cohesive. In general, the lyrics are written pretty poetically or cryptically. I like to use imagery in my writing, so most of our songs have kind of an over arcing theme with a lot of imagery and some metaphor and things like that. We like to have the music, instrumentation, and melody be the focus rather than the lyrics.

They definitely contribute to the mood and feel and power of the songs, but aren’t necessary for the listener to understand what’s going on I don’t think. We like the idea of people interpreting the music in a way that’s personal for them. We’ve only published lyrics for one album- Depths.

The lyrical concepts for our newest album

“I feel that a lot of black metal bands get hung up on trying to capture one specific sound or emotion…

Which is often just fast, dark, cold, hateful. But I don’t think that is how human emotion works”

“Torch of Our Final Night” are quite a bit more personal than any of our previous releases. The lyrics probably won’t be published at any time, but the theme of the album is loss, and of death. The songs are all stories of someone or something that we have lost, either tragically or otherwise. And its not really written as a coping mechanism or anything like that – it’s just a great vehicle to tell the stories of people and events that have a great emotional impact on us.

What’s behind the band name “Woman Is The Earth”? How did you get to it and in what way does it relate to the music you play?

It is basically based on an idea taken from many old cultures that the earth is like a provider or a carrier of life… Man and animal use what has been provided.

There is a kind of metaphorical duality of feminine and masculine energy at work in nature. It’s all pretty much a human way of interpreting the world around us. We also wanted to choose a name that was unique, and didn’t necessarily lump us in to any specific genre or ‘scene’. I think it relates to our music well because our music doesn’t necessarily have one specific mood or energy to it. I think there are lighter, more triumphant moments along with darker, heavier, more tragic moments. I think there is duality in our music and hopefully it feels pretty natural and not too forced. We definitely strive to find those moments in a song as organically as possible, without having abrupt, awkward changes in mood or feeling.

Where do you feel your musical approach derives from the “normal” black metal bands’ offer? And why.

I feel that a lot of black metal bands get hung up on trying to capture one specific

sound or emotion… Which is often just fast, dark, cold, hateful. But I don’t think that is how human emotion works… It doesn’t feel real to me. Nobody’s heart is only filled with hate, or loathing, or only happiness and bliss. And if that person does exist, I doubt they are creating music. The human experience is about the entire spectrum of emotion… It’s what makes love and triumph feel so good and what makes depression, anger, envy and hopelessness feel so awful.

They all complement each other. The dynamics of emotion complement each other the same way dynamics in music does… Ten minutes of blast beats or heavy drop C chugging loses its effectiveness if there isn’t another dynamic of sound or emotion or rhythm somewhere in there.

This is what I hope our musical approach can effectively capture. It all comes back to good songwriting. Sometimes it’s cool to hear the fastest, heaviest, or most technical sounding band, but that stuff can get pretty boring after a few minutes. I know with the new wave of ‘-post’ kinds of music, there is a lot more experimentation with mixing dark music with more lighthearted stuff. I think it’s an interesting step in music, although often times that just sounds really awkward and forced to me. So I guess in the end, I hope we can achieve what I think is an ultimate goal of capturing a spectrum of emotion and sound in heavy music organically… To where it doesn’t seem forced, or awkward, or cheesy, or trendy. Of course this is all just my opinion.

What kind of influence do the Black Hills, the place where you all come from, have in your music and lyrics?

The Black Hills is very influential to us.

We all grew up here, and have a very deep connection with our home. There is a very unique feeling and spirit to the Black

Hills as well as the rest of South Dakota that is difficult to describe… And perhaps impossible to understand for someone who isn’t from here, but it’s very powerful for us. We also all have generations of family that have settled and prospered in South Dakota. Our roots are here, grown from our families homesteading from Scandinavia. It is rural, but it is beautiful, and there is freedom here, in a very true sense of the word. You can leave town and go into the hills or the forest or into the plains or the badlands and not see another person for days if you choose.

And it only takes a few minutes to get there. No crowded freeways or toll roads.

And there is history, ancient history of old cultures and old mountains. There is something very magical about it and, although I personally travel and live in many different places in the western United States throughout the year, the Black Hills is my home. It’s our home. It has an influence on our music and lyrics.

Our first album called “This Place That Contains My Spirit” is essentially about the Black Hills… It’s about connecting with whatever place you feel your spirit is bound to. For us, its here. Many of our lyrics tell stories or reflect on things that have happened here.

What projects and ambitions do you have for this project? Do you all just imagine yourselves releasing albums at this level or do you have the goal and the dream to achieve a new level of popularity, a big label and something more?

We always have ambition for this project.

It isn’t necessarily for more popularity or a bigger label, but basically to have more and more opportunities to perfect our craft, to create new music and art and have it come to life in the ways that we envision. If a big label and

more popularity could provide us the opportunity to make better quality recordings, artwork, and distribution without sacrificing our integrity, personality or our relationship with each other than that would fall in line with our ambition… But it’s not the ultimate goal for us. We will see what the future brings, but right now we have tons of ideas for new music, new artwork, everything…

It’s a very exciting time for us. We genuinely love Woman is the Earth and we pour our hearts into it. We will continue with the same passion until we decide together that its time to stop.

“The songs are all stories of someone or something that we have lost, either tragically or otherwise”

Comprised by multi-instrumentist Loth and vocalist F.S., LOTH is a French entity taking atmospheric black metal to new levels in their homonymous debut album. The duo can easily combine the rawest and fastest approach with in-depth, sad and melodic elegance and those are reasons why you should check them out. We did and this is what we learnt from both musicians.

How did the Loth project started?

What kind of musical background did you both have until you get to this point?

Loth: I’ve created Loth in 2014. I used to play black metal music since 2008 but never took writing to the point where I could end up with a recording. I don’t have a big musical background. I’ve been playing guitar on my own since I was 11 and been in (mostly) psychedelic rock bands since 2013.

F.S.: I’ve been playing music for the past 25 years. I started singing when I was 11 and got involved in rock bands a couple years later. So far, been playing in ten to 15 bands ranging from indie rock to radical DIY hardcore. Been touring a lot with Dead For A Minute and Hyacinth when we were active. Black metal was always a style I wanted to play but I could never find people to do it properly, until I met Loth.

Do you remember when did you start to listen to extreme music and what was the “course” that led you to this style?

Loth: I started listening to bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden when I was nine/ten years old. A year later, I discovered Pantera, Obituary and Slayer, and at the age of 12 I started listening to black metal. It didn’t blow me away at the beginning, until I listened to Emperor’s “Anthemn…” at the age of 16. It changed a lot of things. And then came Setherial,

Enslaved, Darkthrone, Burzum...

F.S.: I used to play with my cousin’s records when I was a kid. He had some Iron Maiden and Dio LPs that I felt in love with. When I entered middle school, I started hanging out with the metal kids. That’s basically how I got into extreme music. It was heavy metal first, then black and death metal. I used to listen to some nu-metal as well back in 1994-1995 but then my ears and heart got crushed by hardcore and trve emo/ screamo music – not the urban metal / whiny emo shit that you’ve been forcefed for the past 15 years. Listening to hardcore in its variety helped me appreciate black metal even more, as well as other styles of music such as experimental/drone music, noise stuff, dark ambient or neo folk as well.

What are your personal main influences, when it comes to music?

What bands made you want to start playing music?

Loth: Around seven or eight [years old], I was listening to Slash’s solos on both “Use Your Illusion” records. I also thought that the guitar skill in Nirvana was awesome. Eversince I started listening to Iron Maiden and Metallica, I’ve been fascinated with distortion. I got myself a pretty horrible electric guitar as a gift for a birthday, a real shitty instrument, and I tried to play “And Justice For All” in its entirety. Regarding Loth, my influences are Häive, Drudkh, Wyrd and Burzum.

F.S.: I listen to a lot of different music, from hip-hop to soundtracks to j-pop to 60’s obscure garage to primitive black metal, so we’ll stick to the extreme. Band that made me want to play music: Iron Maiden, definitely. Seeing them in 1992 made me want to start my own band.

Bands that made me want to scream my lungs out: Deadguy and The Red Scare.

Tim Singer and Kip Ulhorn are crazy fantastic screamers. They have so much anger and emotions in them when they scream. That inspired me to convey the same intensity and feeling when I open my mouth in front of a microphone...

Otherwise, I’m a big Immortal, Tom Waits and Sade fan.

Is the French rich black metal and atmospheric black scene an influence as well? How do you fit into that scene and what’s your opinion on it? What are your favorite French bands, by the way?

Loth: I have the most utter respect for the French black metal scene, in its variety as well as in its talent. I’ve listened a lot to Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Seth,

“To be honest with you, I don’t have that much interest in the French BM scene. When I was young, I was all about “the scene” – whatever music I was listening to – but as I grew older, I also grew tired of being part of any scene at all.”

Nehemah... Without sounding the same, I think those bands may have influenced the way I write songs. So far, our record has been pretty well received, I hope it’s gonna keep on like this. But we’re still a fresh young band, so I don’t see us as being part of that scene. Lately, I’ve been a lot into Pénitence Onirique. Their first album should be out in September. Otherwise, I think Deathspell Omega is my favorite French band, especially since “Paracletus”. That record is a work of avant-garde art, pretty different from what I’m used to work on but it’s done so intelligently that I simply love it.

F.S.: To be honest with you, I don’t have that much interest in the French BM scene. When I was young, I was all about “the scene” – whatever music I was listening to – but as I grew older, I also grew tired of being part of any scene at all.

Most musical scenes are exclusive, not inclusive.

Wear the wrong shirt, say the wrong shit, play the wrong riff and you will never be accepted.

Therefore, I’m not paying attention to being a part of anything anymore. So yeah, I can’t consider the French scene to be an influence. I don’t know if we fit in that scene or not, I don’t really care what people think. Maybe we’re too melodic, too weak, too trve or too classic.

People make their own opinion and

that’s fine with me. On the other hand, I try to go to as many shows as I can in my area and support local bands by buying their records, selling them in my shop and talking about it on my blog. My favorite French bands are or were Chaos Echoes, Stav, Murmuüre and of course the almighty Austrasian Goat. I also like a band from Metz called Night. They’re young, they lack relevance and you can still easily pinpoint their influences but you also feel they want to express themselves no matter what, which is cool. Let’s see where they’ll be heading in the future.

“What’s happening F.S., do you have to be – or put yourself – into now is the result some kind of mindset to able to perform this of terror politics be kind of vocals? Or are and scare tactics, you able to do it in the you open your exploiting the moment mouth? poor and sucking F.S.: I love screaming. It’s something physical. I don’t their countries dry know, I just love it. I’m a shy person, I keep for resources and very a lot of things for myself, mostly negative feelings. money for Screaming helps me feel centuries now. As better, getting all the bad out. When I’ve got a nation, we’re things this mic in my hand, I’m basically reaping turning into somebody I can become what we sewn” different. pretty self-destructive, just screaming my lungs out. My whole body is then controlled by my throat. Sometimes it hurts, but it helps me feeling very much alive in the moment, which is something I need.

Do you have a clear idea, when you listen to music nowadays, what impacts you enough to enter your subconscious and somehow be there, in the creative output, when you write something?

Loth: Since I don’t have any proper musical training – can’t read partitions, for example – I’ve got a pretty clear idea.

I’m only trusting my emotions when I’m listening to a song. I sometimes pay attention to the more technical side but in black metal it is totally secondary. When I hear songs that are giving me those sensations, I try to analyze structures and the way to get through. When I wrote that first record, I didn’t want to make proper songs, but instead tried to tell tales and get a final result in harmony with the way I felt while composing. This record is a pretty nostalgic and melancholic one.

While still being atmospheric, the next one will be pretty different.

F.S.: There are always references to other records, bands or songs in the lyrics I write. I like doing that. I guess that’s how I get influenced by the music I listen to.

I’ve always liked lyrics that are “written between the lines”, lyrics that are not one-sided. Words can have different meanings and it’s interesting to play with them. Also, I’m a huge fan of melodies.

I know I sometimes transform known melodies from mainstream artists to make them my own.

It’s a strange era in Europe – and particularly in France – nowadays when it comes to social, cultural and even security issues. How does that affect you as persons and how do you think it will affect Loth’s music?

Loth: I don’t think it changes anything for Loth. On a personal side, though, it makes me hate the world we live in more and more every day.

F.S.: I don’t know if it will affect our music but it will certainly have consequences on the lyrics I’m writing. Chaos always serve a purpose. As a person, I’ve got mixed feelings. What’s happening now is the result of terror politics and scare tactics, exploiting the poor and sucking their countries dry for resources and money for centuries now. As a nation, we’re basically reaping what we sewn.

But then, the assessment remains the same: we are the victims of a global war that is not our own. Whether you’re living in Mossoul or in Nice, you will always be at the mercy of the wealthy ones in power and those who are ready to blindly die for them. I know for a fact that there’s only one race on Earth and that God is a myth created by man, therefore I will never understand nor accept why idiots are still fighting for it.

Thus, staying positive and keeping my mind focused on what matters is pretty difficult. I strive on a daily basis not to completely and utterly hate the whole human race. But I try. On a more “down to earth” note, in order to put things in perspective, it’s interesting to have a look at statistics regarding terrorism throughout the years, how it affects lives, how it kills. You’ll find it that there were much more attacks and deaths during the 70’s and 80’s in Western Europe than now...

How does the composition work in Loth? Do you have an established method?

Loth: Regarding composition, I’m working on my own. I send demo tracks to F.S. In order for him to hear the globality of the songs and start writing if feeling inspired, besides the fact that I want to know his feedback.

For the first album, we only saw each other once to place vocals on tracks. I

didn’t know what or how he was gonna do it. We recorded vocals in a creepy basement with our computer. Two hours later, the record was ready. Regarding methodology, it’s always the same. I got melodies running through my brain, mostly before falling asleep. So I just grab a guitar and start playing. It helps me remember them. I also record them the day after. Turning those melodies into songs is pretty simple. I place them and arrange them the way I want, and then I try to turn them into a story with a lot of self-involved feelings, mostly negative ones. I also like to write songs while I’m travelling. In forests. Always with my acoustic guitar.

F.S.: Loth summed it up pretty well. For the next record, we’re trying something different, though, as I’ve been writing in French and sending my lyrics to him before he starts writing songs. Let’s see what comes up.

F.S., you’re also involved in a label, Specific Recordings, right? What can you tells us about that label, it’s concept, your releases and the way you work?

F.S.: Correct. My wife and I started the label in 2011. We’d already been involved in likewise projects but this time we wanted to do something different, free of any musical genres. Like I said before, I/ we listen to a lot of different music and we wanted Specific to reflect that diversity, yet still maintaining some sort of edge and particularity. Which is the reason why you’re gonna find one weird j-pop record standing next to a black metal one or a soul music scorcher. Since we love Japan and its culture, we also wanted to work with some specific Japanese bands.

We go to Tokyo at least once a year to meet bands and labels. We love doing that. Also, I strongly believe in DIY ethics,

which is why I’m using the label to put out the records I’m involved in. I don’t want to wait for labels to get interested in the music I play. Doing it myself guarantees independence. About the way we work, it’s pretty simple. Since we mostly work with friends, we just talk, drink and decide to put a record out. That’s what we’re trying to do with the Japanese bands too.

Sometimes it works, sometimes we have to sign contracts, which is fine, since we’ve been working with major labels there and that’s how they do it.

What are your plans, expectations and wildest dreams for this project? What are you planning to do next and how do you see yourselves 10 years from now?

Loth: No particular plans so far except writing songs. We’re working on a new album, I’m trying to come up with additional material for eventually doing splits with bands we like. I’d like those new songs to bring out the best in me and improve the overall quality of our project. We’re also thinking about playing live with a band. I was not into it at first because I got irrational fears playing live; playing with my other bands can sometimes be a pain in the ass, I’m really fighting inner demons to do it; I even cancelled a show once because I was too scared to do it. Also I think my vision of BM is too personal to play it on stage. But at least we should try. Not doing it would be a mistake. Right now, I don’t where I’ll be in 10 years... Hell, I don’t even know what I’ll do in a month or so... I just wish I’ll still have faith and hope in music, with things to say and do with my guitar.

F.S.: I wouldn’t mind playing live with this project. I miss screaming my lungs out and spitting at the faces of people in a crowd. I also think we can ask some talented friends to play with us and

offer a good live experience. Music-wise, I’m pretty sure we can improve our songwriting and come up with some interesting ideas for our next records.

Overall, I’m really excited about being part of this project and I’m looking forward doing new things with Loth. How do I see myself in 10 years? Hopefully still in my record store, spending most of my time listening to and playing music with my friends, still being in love with my beautiful wife and going to Japan as many times as I possibly can.

You’re a duo, which is somehow an uncommon thing in atmospheric black metal, where the “one-man-bands” rule. How do you both get along, personally speaking? Is the human, friendship relation important when it comes to create music?

Loth: I don’t know, it flows just naturally.

We get along really well on the musical side. He gets what I’m trying to convey and I deeply love his work as a lyricist and singer. On a personal side, we’re friends and we’re trying to spend our time together. We don’t have any ego problems, we see things the same way so it makes it a lot easier. Regarding the creation process, like I said, we don’t interfere within the work of each other. We trust each other and when we share ideas to build our songs, it simply works to perfection. It seriously is a real pleasure to be in a band together.

F.S.: It is our shared love for Pantera, Fear Factory and Helloween that gets us going along so well... I have been playing with a lot of people since I started getting involved in music, having both good and bad experience, and I know I can’t get along with many people now as I’ve grown older. Hopefully, Loth is one of them. He’s my neighbor, he’s my metal lover, he’s one of my true friends.

“Since I don’t have any proper musical training – can’t read partitions, for example – I’ve got a pretty clear idea. I’m only trusting my emotions when I’m listening to a song. I sometimes pay attention to the more technical side but in black metal it is totally secondary”

“We listen to a lot of different music and we wanted Specific to reflect that diversity, yet still maintaining some sort of edge and particularity. Which is the reason why you’re gonna find one weird j-pop record standing next to a black metal one or a soul music scorcher”

EULOGIES Arkhtinn IV Fallen Empire Records With location and members unknown, Arkhtinn puts emphasis on the music and, operating this way, they (he/she?) releases now it’s fourth demo in about four years. “IV” is a two-song release, with a wild, fast approach on the first track (of about 20 minutes) and a dark-ambient tone on the second one (19 minutes). The ambient side is always present and in the first song there’s even some icy cold melodic riffs with a Dissection soul on it. This somehow confirms the theories that Arkhtinn is a Scandinavian project, but what really matters in “IV” is that it provides a very good dual atmospheric black metal release. 4/6 Darkenhöld Memoria Sylvarum Independent Coming from the fertile French black metal scene, Darkenhöld has a very raw charm of their own, while at the same time seem to be fantastic musicians with strong and clear ideas.

Their approach to black metal is deeply rooted in the Scandinavian 90’s scene, incorporating in the process some medieval melodies enriched by keyboards and acoustic guitars. In this fourth full-length album they reach a very nice balance between the raw strength of the cold riffs, the brutal and fast rhythmic approach and the subtle and clever melodies. All in all, a great authentic black metal release. Available in CD and digital formats. Darkkenhold. bandcamp.com 5/6

Midnight Odyssey Silhouettes Of Stars I, Voidhanger Records For ten years, the Australia born Dis Pater have been making good, ambient black metal in his project Midnigh Odyssey. Now is time for a revision of his best tracks, scattered through two full-length albums, two demos, three split releases a quite a few compilation appearances.

“Silhouettes Of Stars” is brought to you, thus, in a double CD edition of over two hours of music, where the coherence of Midnight Odyssey’s approach comes across and the intense, no-frills ambient black metal gets a full treatment. Also available in digital format, this is quite a good way to know this interesting project from down under. 5/6 Morari Morari Independent Streamlined by two mysterious members (E. and A.), Morari is a new band coming from Los Angeles, California, dealing with the fertile mix of post-black metal, shoegaze and depressive rock. “Morari”, their 24-minutes four-track debut EP, showcases a quite enthusiastic composition and atmosphere.

Although not too groundbreaking, the duo’s music summons quite well the emotions that this kind of music can offer. Pretty glowing and melodic, sometimes it resembles a darker Alcest in the best way possible. The release is exclusively digital and is available at name-your-price in their bandcamp page. Morari.bandcamp.com 4/6

Saule Saule Avantgarde Music The Saule mixture of dark, doom and black metal, done with postrock hints and a very present ambiental side, might sound bold and pretty unusual for the “regular” atmospheric black metal fans. But after a few spins, this debut album of Polish band Saule grows like a mammoth and, all of a sudden, you’re hooked to this layered, sophisticated and intriguing piece of music. Nice and promising debut and surely a project to follow in their next releases. 4/6

Violent Cold / Sadness / A Light In The Dark / Unreqvited / Show Me A Dinosaur Imperfect Independent Released independently by the bands and with a limited run of CD, this is a classic split where each project throws a single, long song, clocking at almost 50 minutes of running time. Azerbaijan’s Violent Cold has in “Brave New Void” an expansive, highly atmospheric take on instrumental post-black metal. Sadness oppressive, soaked & depressive approach to black metal is highly known in the scene and “Vivify” is no exception. A Light In The Dark classifies as “blackgaze from Podolsk, Russia” and it does so with clear production and some density. Canadian Unreqvited is, somehow, the wildcard in this split, with an epic, dynamic and risky approach do post-black metal, which somehow turns out pretty well. Show Me a Dinosaur, a full band from Russia, flirts massively with post-black metal and shoegaze, providing some of the most brutal and hautingly beautiful material in the whole split. 4/6

Afterword Most of the people go through life without a single shadow of death. Some of us, though, live with the feeling of that sword hanging over our head that will fall – just a matter of “when” – and deal with it in different ways. A minority deal with it feeling the emotions in a extreme, very Poeish, way. These are the people this fanzine is made for. People who feel this music, other than just consume it and listen to it. Musicians who put more than a few notes together – they put feelings and a little bit more than just music in their creations.

Nowadays, the music industry (“scene”, if you want) is a wild battle camp. Dozens of new records are released every week, all of them are available online for free at the range of a couple of mouse clicks, and the “audience” tends to go through all them vaguely and lightly. I would like to invite you to dive into each one of these bands’ releases. Get to really know them. Listen to it for more just a couple of times, give them time, let them grow in you. You’ll find a whole new world in each and every release, not exactly by magic, but by letting the brain fully absorb the music and “learn” it. Just like you did in the early days with the records you now consider “classics”.

You may choose your “weapon” (although the physical releases allow a bigger interaction with the records), but please don’t let the music pass you by just like a distant and vague soundtrack of your daily things.

Fernando Reis horrores_nocturnos@sapo.pt